Various websites, youtube videos, and blogs have talked about and suggested installing what is known as the "XBMCHUB Wizard". This is not a good idea, and doing so can cause more issues than it fixes. This tool likely started with good intentions, but many of the configurations it sets or changes will break or crash certain XBMC setups. It also replaces the standard XBMC skin background with an advertisement for the "XBMCHUB" website.

What about only a simple pop-up warning message then whenever you are about to install an addon from a third-party repo?

Something like "Warning! You are about to install an addon from a third-party repository, and this addon have not been vetted and approved by Team-XBMC or the XBMC Foundation for offensive content or malicious code. Are you sure that you want to proceed with the installation? Yes or Cancel"

Say for instant if a user have downloaded XBMC from an unofficial source with third-party addon repos already added instead of from the official xbmc.org website.

Or a perhaps a friend or even yourself might have previously added third-party addon repos without you realizing how it actually works or the possible consequences.

No, it doesn't work like that. For one, their "wizard" isn't an add-on itself, but a way to install add-ons and install a pre-created advancedsettings.xml file, among other things. It's not about the add-ons they install. It's not about piracy or anything like that.

The reason I made this thread was because they're intentionally confusing people, and now they're pushing for donations with the re-release of their wizard tool. People are donating to them thinking that they're donating to a legitimate open source project. I don't even care that it's a donation to a 3rd party group, that's fine. What's not fine is that they're doing it through deception. Even people who do know that they're not official are still being tricked into believing that they actually do something for the community. The people behind XBMCHUB don't even make the add-ons people download from there. They're just taking advantage of the opportunity. They over-represent themselves, and claim to be a backbone of the community. That couldn't be further from the truth.

At the end of the day, if someone wants to use add-ons or utilities that are hosted there, that's fine. I don't care. As long as people know what's going on and can make an informed decision for themselves. Not everything that comes from that site is even bad. It's the deception, not the content, that I take issue with.

EDIT: I stand corrected, it is an add-on itself. Still, the point remains.

I definitely agree. While we dislike the way people get confused and constantly ask us why their pirate websites are breaking, we much more importantly like the fact that anyone can do anything they want with XBMC. At the end of the day, the XBMC software is about the freedom to do whatever you want. Blacklisting addons so they don't run on XBMC would go directly against that imperative.

Quote:I hope someone can help me. Every time I play anything on XBMC that popup comes up that has the music that says “XBMC for all your movies & Tv..Xbmc yea yea yea” Is there a way to keep that from coming u? It stops anything on my XBMC program from playing.

Seriously, if that's representative, people need to stop installing that thing.

Keep in mind, this is mostly about the HUB Wizard and confusing XBMCHUB as XBMC.org. If someone wants to install individual add-ons from there, even if they're banned from discussion on XBMC.org, no judgement is being made of those people. XBMC is and always will be open to be used however the user sees fit. There are also add-ons "hosted" by XBMCHUB that are not banned form xbmc.org, because they don't violate our piracy policy.

Even using the HUB Wizard itself shouldn't be viewed as a "banned" topic, but people should be aware that we're not likely to help those who have it installed. The reasons being, it's either related to discussion about other banned (piracy add-ons) discussion, or we feel it is a waste of our time when we believe the HUB Wizard is the likely cause of many problems. As I said before, it was probably made with good intentions.

What people should take from this is:

The HUB Wizard might break things and we discourage people from using it

XBMCHUB is a different group from XBMC Media Center/XBMC.org/Team XBMC/XBMC Foundation

Donating to HUB does not go to the development of XBMC. It only goes to the activity that HUB does.

After seeing posts here about xbmc-hub and others I thought I would see what the fuss was all about and installed the addons and as a result xbmc would crash every boot, maybe 10-15 seconds after starting. I never really looked into it so I have no evidence it was xbmc-hub, but it was the only change in my system and the crashes are gone after uninstalling the add on - which itself is not so easy as it makes changes to sources.XML + advancedsettings.XML + who knows what else.

Well, normally we don't have an issue with others using XBMC branding in their own fan sites. This is just a case where it became an issue, and the site refuses to change their name or take adequate steps to decrease confusion. When another site's use of the XBMC brand hurts XBMC, they normally don't want that and will do whatever they can to make it right. This hasn't been the case with HUB.

(2013-09-01 03:45)Ned Scott Wrote: Well, normally we don't have an issue with others using XBMC branding in their own fan sites. This is just a case where it became an issue, and the site refuses to change their name or take adequate steps to decrease confusion. When another site's use of the XBMC brand hurts XBMC, they normally don't want that and will do whatever they can to make it right. This hasn't been the case with HUB.

Very understandable, but as a former business manager, I have an issue. To me, branding is sacred! When I saw what the "Hub Wizard" had done to literally hijack the menu screen, my thought was to undo it immediately. Luckily, you guys told me that the "Hub Wizard" might cause crashing problems later. ... That was all I had to hear.

I made my first very small contribution today, and I just installed "XBMC - Gotham 13, Alpha 7!" It identified about 6 broken plug-ins, and so far it is working perfectly.

Thank you for all that you do! ... I will keep spreading the word.

Edit: Just my opinion, but you should lock your start/menu screen in future builds.